Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized New York City Mayor Eric Adams giving NYC police a raise during an interview with “The Daily Show,” the first raise for officers in the city since 2017, the New York Post reports.
Ocasio-Cortez spoke to Comedy Central’s Jordan Klepper, who asked the congresswoman if increases in police funding were misplaced.
“We are in New York City, and you’re talking about funding violence prevention outside of the police, and yet Eric Adams has just increased police wages by 28%. Is that misplaced?”
“I think so,” the 33-year-old politician replied.
“We are now at a point where officially, most officers are paid more than a teacher with a master’s degree serving these same kids involved in these same incidents,” she said.
The New York representative toured the Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, New York, and spoke about its “Stand Up to Violence” program.
According to the New York Post, the program investigates shootings with social workers without police involvement. A 2020 article from CBS describes the program as involving “a physician and social worker working with victims of violence inside the hospital and an outreach coordinator on the streets.”
Police in New York City have worked without a new contract since 2017, and as such the city’s new, eight-year contract with the police union will be applied retroactively. The cost of the agreement is $5.5 billion through 2025.
The Police Benevolent Association’s deal with the government secured its members the applicable back pay, a 3.5% raise in August 2022, and a 4% raise in 2024.
The union, which consists of 23,000 members, also agreed on terms that will see annual salaries for rookie cops increase from $42,000 to $55,000.
Ocasio-Cortez criticized the move, remarking that while other public sectors have faced cuts, the NYPD will get a pay raise.
“We are defunding safety, defunding our public schools, defunding our public pools, defending our parks, [and] defunding our libraries,” the representative said.
“When we are taking all of those resources and demanding that every single department – except the militarized one – be cut, we are sending a message about who and what we care about,” she added.
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